Alfa Romeo Tipo 163 - the hyper sports car from 1941

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Alfa Romeo Tipo 163 - the hyper sports car from 1941

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Created on March 16, 2020

Text:

Gerhard Schütz

Photos:

Zeichnung Rens Biesma

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Archiv/Gioacchino Colombo_ed

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Markus Pfäffli

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Archiv

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Alfa Romeo Tipo 163 from 1941 - road version with left-hand drive in a digital reconstruction

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Unusual silhouette for a revolutionary two-seater sports car from 1941. The small window behind the door differs from Colombo's original drawing

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Wifredo Ricart at the wheel of the Tipo 162

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Side view and floor plan of the Alfa Romeo Tipo 162. The unusual arrangement of the gearbox behind the differential is clearly visible in the floor plan

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The twin-turbocharged V16-cylinder engine of the Tipo 162/163 in section. Reminiscent of a Tibetan mandala, according to Griffith Borgeson ...

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The only surviving Alfa Romeo Tipo 512 is in the Alfa Romeo Museum

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Side view and floor plan of the Alfa Romeo Tipo 512. The upright seating position, which was necessary for the high steering forces, is striking

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Rear view of the Alfa Romeo Tipo 512 - the classic De Dion cross tube is clearly visible, which unusually runs above the rear axle rather than behind or in front of it

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For comparison - longitudinal sections of the Porsche 917 and the Lamborghini Miura

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Layout of the Alfa Romeo Tipo 163 chassis

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Front view of the Alfa Romeo Tipo 163 - typical of the time are the proportions, which are defined by the narrow track and the full front wheel covers

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Alfa Romeo Tipo 163 fittings - the small gearshift for the hydraulic gearshift is striking

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Summary

Sports car? Was the day before yesterday. Super sports car? That was yesterday. Today it has to be a hyper sports car. But who invented it? Bugatti, Mercedes, Ferrari or Aston Martin? No, it was Alfa Romeo. Fake news? No, it's a fact! 80 years ago, in 1940, Alfa Romeo was working on the Tipo 163 project: 16-cylinder central engine, all-round glazed aerodynamic body, innovative suspension, hydraulic gearshift - in short, a futuristic supercar. Unfortunately, it never made it onto the road. So it's high time to lift the veil on a little-known project in this article to mark the brand's 110th anniversary.

This article contains the following chapters

War is the father of all things. But also of things that can be prevented
Wifredo Ricart: A Spaniard shakes up the development department with the Tipo 162 and the Tipo 512 at
The Tipo 162
The Tipo 512
Two-seater coupé Tipo 163 - hypercar from 1941
Epilogue
Technical data of the Alfa Romeo Tipo 163

Estimated reading time: 13min

Preview (beginning of the article)

Sports car? Was the day before yesterday. Super sports car? That was yesterday. Today it has to be a hyper sports car. But who invented it? Bugatti, Mercedes, Ferrari or Aston Martin? No, it was Alfa Romeo. Fake news? No, it's a fact! 80 years ago, in 1940, Alfa Romeo was working on the Tipo 163 project: 16-cylinder central engine, all-round glazed aerodynamic body, innovative suspension, hydraulic gearshift - in short, a futuristic supercar. Unfortunately, it never made it onto the road. High time to lift the veil on a little-known project to mark the brand's 110th anniversary. Alfa Romeo's intensive and wide-ranging development work on racing cars in the 1930s surprisingly continued even after the outbreak of the Second World War. But towards the end of the war, the plant in Milan was targeted by Allied air raids, as Alfa Romeo was a major player in aircraft engine construction at the time.

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